PEORIA — UnityPoint Health-Methodist will finish the face-lift begun four years ago and add more free parking and a new atrium lobby to the Downtown campus.

By the time the $10 million project is completed, Methodist will have 200 new surface parking spaces, a new elevator, a new atrium lobby entrance for out-patient surgery, and new stucco-like exterior on the entire west side of the building facing I-74. The projected completion date is July 2015.

The new exterior, which includes a wall of glass, will unify the building’s look with the rest of the campus. The new parking lot abuts the planned five-story entrance on the east side of Glen Oak Avenue for out-patient surgery. The entrance includes a three-story atrium.

“Out-patients will be able to park in the surface lot, walk in the building, go right to the elevator, and push a button to the second floor,” said Vance Vinson, the hospital’s facilities director. “It will be a whole lot more accommodating for our patients.”

The work also includes refurbishing Service League Memorial Park on the Methodist campus and building a new heliport pad adjacent to the parking lot.

Renovations are part of Iowa-based UnityPoint Health’s strategic capital initiative, Vinson said. Methodist’s 2011 affiliation with UnityPoint, then Iowa Health System, gives the Peoria hospital access to capital at lower interest rates. The project continues a round of major renovations completed in 2010.

Some of the preliminary work begins Saturday when construction crews are scheduled to set up cranes to remove a 40-ton air conditioner from an older section of the building. Work begins in earnest within the next 30 days.

The old parking deck along Hamilton Boulevard has already been demolished to make way for the new surface parking. The old seven-story elevator tower along Glen Oak Avenue and the smokestack facing I-74 will also be torn down.

River City Construction of East Peoria was the low bidder for the contractor. Architectural Design Group and Keith Engineering and Design are also working on the project.

Pam Adams can be reached at 686-3245 or padams@pjstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @padamspam.